Camping question, what are you taking with you?

Different folks have diffent goals, MM, your friends are minimalist and want to shave every gram they can. They choose this route.....no one said they can't carry it.

Some folks are of the mindset of better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

I am with OTE, that if someone is complaining about weight of a knife..HIT THE GYM.
 
I carry a big knife because I don't like it when the woods fairies laugh at me when I whip out a small one. :foot: :foot:


:D :D

Now seriously... My preference is a BM of some sort as most of you know... paired up with an AD.
And to answer your question about a HOGFSH... I'm sure it would be great in the field.
I know you're not concerned with weight, but my guess is the a HOGFSH weighs more than a CGFBM.
I prefer the BM because when I chop, I land the sweet spot of the BM and on a FSH size,
I tend to graze at the sweep of the edge.


MM... next time you go out, take a MOAB and show them what a big knife really looks like. :D ;)

Just bustin' ya bro. :p


.
 
I'm with Mustard, I'm not a big guy (unlike MikeH ;) ) and like to travel light. For me my Skinny ASH and a multi-tool will do everything I need. If I need to go lighter or just day hiking, the Scrapyard S5LE is my choice. If I have less weight restriction, then the SFNOLE is a beauty to behold and use. If base camping I will bring something bigger...
 
Probably depends on where I might be going. I would always have more knife than I think I might need, as in be able to make a shelter and set up a camp fire if necessary without too much wasted energy. The trails and forest lands out here can be either dense pine/aspen, or predominantly plains and rocks. For the former, I'd have a BM or some sort, Dogfather, or NMSFNO, or for the latter example, I may not want more than a 5-6" blade on me (SJTAC, Skinny ASH, Scrapper 5). Both situations, I'd have an AD, too, if it didn't just have the Scrapper 5.
 
Thanks for all the responses (again). I think this is a great topic because it really puts the practical use right in perspective. I definitely want to chop and get rid of stuff and the BM just looks big to me personally. I'm going to keep my eyes on the exchange for the FSH and SFNO as well as a Sar-8.

I personally like to pack for 2-3 days in... stay for 1-2 days then go back out. Assiniboine and Desolation Wilderness were both awesome, plan on doing Desolation many more times.

My pack weighed around 35 last time and it's just more enjoyable to have a lighter pack. We made the dog carry his own food once which was great, hah. I've taken the HR out but I haven't really tried chopping with it (doesn't seem like it would be overly conducive but I've been wrong many times before and we had a hatchet). So just looking for something to fill the void.

Thanks again
 
I find that my SAR8 LE and my Culti take care of all task, i hike and camp alot and i live in the woods. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
MM,
Please go back and read the last line of my original post before you jump to conclusions regarding my intentions.

Whatever knife anybody carries is a choice--one which is probably right for them, but which may not be right for everyone. There was an implication in a prior post that suggested that the size and or weight of the BM may remove it as a possible choice when doing 5 or 6 miles a day. IMHO, that just is not the case. It is not that significant of a difference that someone can carry an 8 oz knife, but they can't carry a 2 lb rig. That was my point. I was not belittling anybody's choice or preference. If you want to go ultralight, fine by me; it's all good as long as the choice still exists. But when the choice is no longer there because a knife weighs a whole 24 oz more, then perhaps there should be other considerations taken into account.

I hope that is a little clearer. I'll reiterate what I said in my first post:
No offense intended!!! :)
 
Satin Jack + MultiTool (Vic Spirit) and I'm set for almost anything. If I need to build a shelter I would love to have my CGFBM with me.
 
TB and multitool for like 5-6 mile per day hikes and for overnights the KZ or NMFBM....

and MM how do you carry so light for like 5-6 days...doesnt like just food and water weigh a crap load alone?? i
 
SAR8 & LMS or BOSS MS.

Area, duration (intended or unintended), skill sets, terrain, threats, weather and fitness make a big difference in the gear (blade(s) included) you choose. Each criteria has extended considerations, but no diatribe here. Bottom line; you could find yourself in very unintended situation(s) depending upon your GEO, where a larger blade would be a critical piece of kit. However, it seems prudent to always remember the "two is one, one is none" rule. My .02.
 
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Cappy2cap said:
and MM how do you carry so light for like 5-6 days...doesnt like just food and water weigh a crap load alone?? i
Click to expand...

Realize that's a summer pack weight - shelter and insulation is less than five pounds total, and I am hiking places where water is available along the way, so I'm not carrying 6 days worth of water. That obviously wouldn't be practical in all situations. Switching to an ultralight alcohol stove and dehydrated meals has let me cut a lot of weight, too.

That pack weight sounds low to some people, but it's really not, compared to the ultra mega super duper lightweight stuff some people do. I still camp in lots of comfort - I'm taking a hammock and a decent sized tarp to keep me dry in the case of rain. If you carry an ultralightweight frameless pack, and a 3/4 foam sleeping pad, and use a tarptent or even your poncho doing double duty as a shelter, it's completely feasible to get base pack weight well under ten pounds. Now, I don't go to quite that extreme, but I kinda think it would be cool to do so.... except I hate sleeping on the ground.
 
I'm going to echo a lot of people here by saying the SAR8 for your camp knife. Simply a great design and balance of performance to weight.

I pair mine with a SYD Yard Keeper, the two of these together can deal with all of tasks I would tackle when out for a few days.

You could go for a Basic 9 or Dogfather if you can't find a SAR8.
 
I'm somewhere in the middle I guess.

I require whiskey and killer food when camping, I've already spent my time in the army roughing it and eating MREs and dehydrated food and such - there's no way I'm eating that sort of thing nowadays unless it's somehow necessary survival-wise. ;)

But when I'm not with a girl and/or in the summer, sort of like MM does it, I prefer a hammock and tarp and LW bag, no tent or sleeping pad necessary for me, and I can get/filter water up here in the mountains as needed so I don't need to carry that.

Otherwise, it's a LW tent and other chick-friendly creature comforts, as well as my whiskey and killer food for all (and food prep and ample tools/INFI) and some smoke too, and still we're all pretty light and just use trail-running shoes and such... we're all fit.

I get the whole uber-UL thing, but aspects require too many compromises comfort-wise, for me, especially after the army and years of roughing it hunting and such, so I take the best of both worlds and learn from them but pack everything I want, a nice mixture IMO. I'm no longer that masochistic, in those ways at least, it's just not that fun. ;)

So yeah, I carry my CG ASH (my all-around-er, nothing UL there... haha) and a folder and my multi-tool everywhere outdoors anyway... I'll probably swap it (the ASH) in the next few months for a Bushwacker Mistress and relegate the ASH to day-hike duty.

In general though, I maintain that a thinner Mistress or a SAR8/etc and a multi-tool and maybe a small fixed like a Culti or Hack are the best all around combo without being crazy heavy. I dunno, I too believe in the rather have and not need it philosophy... and outside of hyper-UL for the sake of being UL contexts, I hardly see this as excessive. ;)

besides, while in some circumstances it's up to each person to take everything they need, when I carry a big knife and a multi-tool and a smaller knife, that covers the needs for most everyone in my group most of the time, so we carry other shit for each other to offload such things and even the weight out, and that's something for some people to consider I think when discussing the weight of a given tool.

cool topic.
 
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I had this discussion with someone at work the other day, they made the comment that car camping is not real camping, well I beg to differ, especially if the car camping you do requires a 4 wheel drive to trek back in. I told him the main reason I like to car camp as apposed to packing in is my camping beverage of choice is beer and until I design a cooler with off road wheels packing can be a pain in the a$$ ;) therefore I bring big blade/little blades with me. When I take off from camp to go on a hike I usually have my S5LE on my hip and possibly my Waki strapped to my back to use a machette if needed, around camp my mistress or NMSFNO serves as my camp blade.
 
I just did a 3 day backpacking trip with an ASH-1, William Henry GenTac and a Leatherman Squirt. Total pack weight was 32.5lbs. at the beginning and 28.5lbs at the end. Averaged about 6 miles a day, with a lot of uphill/downhill, icluding a couple long steep sections. The ASH-1 worked reasonably well for chopping firewood; my FBM LE would have been better for chopping, but it was not worth the extra weight, at least for me. The ASH-1 was also small enough that I could carry it in an outside pocket of my pack, where it was accessible but did not need to be carried on my hip/leg. Personally, I would not carry anything heavier for a multiday backpacking trip; there are too many other luxuries that can be allowed if you have another 18-24 ounces.

ASH-1.JPG
 
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